Marvel Studios has sent audiences through a marvelous journey filled with laughs, joy, and nonstop thrills. Thanks to Marvel Studios’s cinematic success, characters like Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man are now household names all over the world. However, ever since Avengers: Endgame in 2019, the Marvel magic has slowly started to fade. Reviews for recent movies and shows haven’t been very positive, opening box office sales have lowered, and the direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) seems to have lost focus. As a result, people are wondering what went wrong. Unfortunately, there is no one, simple answer, but there are a lot of contributing factors that have possibly led to the MCU’s current downfall.
Superhero Fatigue
Let’s start with the most common, possible reason: superhero fatigue. Many of us have heard the term before but for those that haven’t superhero fatigue is simply audiences’ lack of interest in the superhero genre normally due to oversaturation within society. Superheroes, especially Marvel characters, have increased in popularity ever since Iron Man (2008). The idea that many people have superhero fatigue is justifiable since Marvel Studios has been producing more and more superhero movies ever since. And it is not only the big screen that has been overtaken by the superhero genre. Superheroes, especially in the United States, have taken over all of pop culture from media to memes to merchandise. You would be hard pressed to go on social media and not find a post about a superpowered figure.
With that said, whether you like superheroes or not, the genre is here to stay like so many others. In the past, people have made similar complaints like western fatigue or zombie fatigue. And yet, these genres have lasted for decades producing movies, TV shows, and even video games to this day. Even though this reason is brought up a lot, it is unlikely the biggest reason for the MCU decline. Other superhero shows like The Boys and Invincible continue to be highly rated and highly regarded by fans. According to Amazon, The Boys season 4 has exceeded 55 million viewers and is Amazon Prime’s fourth most-viewed TV season of all time. While Invincible is one of Amazon Prime’s most top-rated shows, with a 99% rating across all three seasons. There is no denying that many put the blame on superhero fatigue, but there are others with a difference of opinions like the Russo brothers.
Generational Divide
Joe and Anthony Russo are sibling filmmakers and directors of many Marvel movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, and of course, Avengers: Endgame. During an interview with Games Radar, the Russo brothers were asked about the slow decline in interest for the MCU. The brothers expressed that they believe this decrease in popularity is due to how audiences consume media.
Joe Russo told the interviewer: “I think it’s a reflection of the current state of everything. It’s difficult right now, it’s an interesting time. I think we’re in a transitional period and people don’t know quite yet how they’re going to receive stories moving forward, or what kinds of stories they’re going to want.
There’s a big generational divide about how you consume media. There’s a generation that’s used to appointment viewing and going to a theater on a certain date to see something, but it’s ageing out. Meanwhile the new generation are ‘I want it now, I want to process it now’, then moving onto the next thing, which they process whilst doing two other things at the same time.
You know, it’s a very different moment in time than it’s ever been. And so I think everyone, including Marvel, is experiencing the same thing, this transition. And I think that really is probably what’s at play more than anything else.”
This is definitely a reasonable argument and something to consider. Disney+ is Disney’s own streaming service and has released many Marvel shows that loosely connect to the MCU on the platform. This means people are now consuming content by waiting for the movies to release in theaters and also getting shows dropped on the streaming service immediately. This big difference in media consumption can be a turn-off to some fans, but many others believe the MCU’s falloff is something much simpler and more prominent.
Drop in Quality
All the way back in 2008, Marvel Studios struck gold with Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark. With the success of the armored superhero, the studios decided to expand on what they had built– thus the MCU was born. Since then, Marvel Studios continued to leave fans in awe with some of the most highly rated MCU movies, according to Rotten Tomatoes, including Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), The Avengers (2012), and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). The excitement, success, and hype that these movies accumulated lead up to what was arguably Marvel Studios’s two biggest projects: Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). These two movies are widely acclaimed and a suitable conclusion to MCU’s infinity saga and a decade of Marvel movies.
After putting fans through such a rollercoaster of surprises, emotions, and heart-pumping action, it is only fair for audiences to ask “How can Marvel top this?” Unfortunately, a few years after the release of the infinity saga finale has shown that reaching the same cinematic peak may prove impossible. This has become evident based on feedback and reviews of movies that have come after the 2019 Marvel blockbuster such as The Marvels (2023), Eternals (2021) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). These movies and as well as Disney+ miniseries have unperformed compared to their cinematic predecessors. Many fans believe that this is all due to a huge drop in quality. Here are the factors that have contributed to this lack in quality:
- Poor Villains: This is something that some fans would say Marvel movies have always had a problem with. Unfortunately, this issue has not been resolved in recent projects. MCU has produced only a handful of memorable villains like Loki, Thanos, and Killmonger. After 30+ Marvel projects, many villains are unforgivable.
- Repetitive Plotlines: Critics have expressed that recent Marvel films feel uninspired. Many follow similar storylines with predictable plots and character arcs without adding any new elements to keep things fresh.
- Weak Visual Effects: In recent years, Marvel Studios has produced more projects per year. However, even with Marvel Studios being a large billion-dollar company, visual effects (VFX) has only decreased in recent projects.
- Unimpactful New Characters: After the events of Avengers: Endgame, characters like Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow have either died or retired from hero work. Other characters that fans have come to know and love are also slowly putting up their cape and cowl which means side characters are taking center stage. Unfortunately, many of these secondary characters are not as well developed and impactful making it difficult for fans to come running to the box office to see these newer characters.
The bottom line is that Marvel has lost the major ingredient that created the magic that started it all: heart. It is clear that when MCU first started it was about creating a good movie and building on an interesting universe they established. Now with quick movie releases and mediocre streaming shows, many believe Marvel is prioritizing high box office return over quality stories and narrative depth. This decline has put Marvel down, but not completely out. If Marvel is able to refocus its priorities and produce projects with better CGI, interesting stories, and well-developed characters, MCU can reach its former glory and get fans excited again for another epic journey.